JMU to Face LIU Brooklyn in the Play-in Game

Well, at least we’re dancing right? That seems to be the general sentiment after the announcement that JMU was selected to face LIU Brooklyn in the play-in game for the right to face #1 seed Indiana. The game will take place on Wednesday, March 20 in Dayton, Ohio. Tip time is 7:00 and the game will be broadcast on Trutv.

I guess there are two ways you can look at this. There’s the NCAA screwed us perspective, or the eff it, the Dukes have a shot to win a tourney game perspective. Truth be told, each outlook has some legitimacy. The play-in set up in general rubs a lot of people the wrong way. It seems like an outright money grab by the NCAA no matter who plays. When automatic qualifiers (like JMU and LIU-Brooklyn) get selected, it comes off like a bait and switch of sorts. It just seems like if you win your tournament, you should go to the dance. The real dance, not the pre-party. As my sister put it earlier this evening, this “doesn’t even feel like dancing. It seems like practicing at home in front of the mirror the day before the prom.” There is also the fact that LIU and JMU were the 65th and 66th seeds, but instead of playing the 67th or 68th (NC A&T and Liberty respectively) they drew each other. Does not make sense.

Of course if you take the lemons and make lemonade, you might realize that JMU now has a legitimate shot to win it’s first NCAA Tournament game in three decades. LIU Brooklyn is a dangerous team that can score the basketball. They’ve been to the tournament the past two seasons. It is not an easy match-up for the Dukes by any means, but it’s winnable. And it pays a full win share, so this could be a blessing in disguise financially speaking. Plus if JMU wins on Wednesday, it will get a shot to shock the world and be the first 16 seed to ever knock off a 1 seed Friday versus Indiana. It’s really not all bad.

Now about LIU Brooklyn. They enter the tournament with a 20-13 record after winning the NEC tournament. They finished fourth in the conference during the regular season, but like the Dukes, got hot at the right time and cut down the nets. As we mentioned above, they can score the basketball. They eclipsed the 90 point mark in their last 4 games and 6 times in the past 9 contests. The Blackbirds average 79.5 points per game and have an offensive efficiency of 112.2. They shoot the ball really well and have the 11th best effective field goal percentage in the country at 54.9. They’re a stark contrast to a JMU team that gets it done with defense, which should make it an interesting match-up. Senior C.J. Garner is the Blackbirds’ A.J. Davis. He elevated his game late and lit up the competition in the NEC tournament averaging over 28 points per game. Hopefully the Dukes can shut him down like they did Devon Saddler last weekend.

The one thing that really jumped out at me while looking over the stats, is the fact that LIU-Brooklyn made more free throws than all but 2 teams in the country this year. That’s sort of surprising considering that they only shoot 69% from the line. They’re able to do it by getting to the line at a ridiculous rate. Their Free Throw Rate (FTR) is 46.3%. That’s the 6th best in the nation and it means that for every 10 FG attempts, the Blackbirds attempt 4.6 free throws. That’s a lot of freebies. As strong as JMU has been defensively, they sometimes put their opponents on the line too much. They have a rather pedestrian defensive FTR of 40.6% (269th in the country). It could be nothing, but it’s something to keep an eye on Wednesday night. My bet is that if the Dukes can keep LIU off the line and put the clamps on C.J. Garner, they move on. And after that, well sooner or later a 16 needs to take down a 1, right?